Children of the Night: Elementals

[The Lesser Evil]

Statistically earth elementals and grave elementals really aren't that different. you could just tack on the grave elemental special ability to the earth monolith and call it a grave monolith. Of course, that would really push up the level of the adventure unless you wanted to give them some tricky way out (Preferably, several possible ways) through indirect methods and then save dealing with the grave monolith itself for a future recurrence thing.

As for the cursed oasis, you gave me a few ideas. Have you read the definitive Ravenloft monster list?
http://fraternityofshadows.com/Library/ ... erlist.pdf

It has a few new(ish) ideas in there, or creative reinterpretations/classifications of existing monsters. One of the ideas mentioned in there is undead elementals (taking the examples of the cinderspawn, desiccator, necromental, and voidwraith from Libris Mortis. Normally elementals are destroyed utterly when they died, preventing any undead from forming. But the elementals that are exposed to huge amounts of negative energy might come back as undead elementals. Regarding your example, what if all the deaths washed the water elemental with negative energy, tainting it enough to turn it into an undead elemental of some kind. (You could use the necromental template- which has the desired effect of making it only dimly aware of its surroundings- with an Int and Cha of 1 and evil alignment). Stick it on a water monolith or other really big elemental along with some other powers- maybe Drink Fluids and a creative interpretation of the various disguise powers from Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead- this thing seems to qualify as a Hungry Dead. I guess you'd need to get a mechanic for getting cursed people to drink/come back though.

I think as far as flavor wise, if you went with undead water elemental idea, that you would explain the oasis draining the moisture out of people, is to take the idea of the desiccator- the undead remnant of a completely dried up water elemental- basically a dried up husk body made of salt with an embittered memory of its watery form from before and an inescapable craving for moisture from living creatures. So the "oasis" would probably be more salt than water, as people are ingesting the salt and losing the water in their bodies. The oasis is able to disguise itself as refreshing freshwater instead of a mostly salt-water oasis. However, the oasis is cursed to lose a good portion of the moisture it drains into the soil around it- making the surrounding lands unusually green and full of life and a suitable lure to bring in more victims.

If you wanted to adopt some mechanics kinda directly out of the box, you could go with this living mirage from pathfinder, which has illusion powers and a desiccation ability: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... ng-mirage/

If you wanted to use that as your chassis, you could just change it to an elemental (instead of an ooze) or throw in a template to make it seem more watery- like the following:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... -creature/

So if you wanted to combine a little bit from each of my ideas above, you could have a necromental, water-infused living mirage with the flavor of the dessicator and possibly some additional added on powers to simulate your curse. If you include the necromental template, I would recommend against reducing the Charisma, as that will effect a lot of potential spell-like/supernatural abilities that are Charisma based.

[KingCorn]

Statistically earth elementals and grave elementals really aren't that different. you could just tack on the grave elemental special ability to the earth monolith and call it a grave monolith. Of course, that would really push up the level of the adventure unless you wanted to give them some tricky way out (Preferably, several possible ways) through indirect methods and then save dealing with the grave monolith itself for a future recurrence thing.

As for the cursed oasis, you gave me a few ideas. Have you read the definitive Ravenloft monster list?
http://fraternityofshadows.com/Library/ ... erlist.pdf

It has a few new(ish) ideas in there, or creative reinterpretations/classifications of existing monsters. One of the ideas mentioned in there is undead elementals (taking the examples of the cinderspawn, desiccator, necromental, and voidwraith from Libris Mortis. Normally elementals are destroyed utterly when they died, preventing any undead from forming. But the elementals that are exposed to huge amounts of negative energy might come back as undead elementals. Regarding your example, what if all the deaths washed the water elemental with negative energy, tainting it enough to turn it into an undead elemental of some kind. (You could use the necromental template- which has the desired effect of making it only dimly aware of its surroundings- with an Int and Cha of 1 and evil alignment). Stick it on a water monolith or other really big elemental along with some other powers- maybe Drink Fluids and a creative interpretation of the various disguise powers from Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead- this thing seems to qualify as a Hungry Dead. I guess you'd need to get a mechanic for getting cursed people to drink/come back though.

I think as far as flavor wise, if you went with undead water elemental idea, that you would explain the oasis draining the moisture out of people, is to take the idea of the desiccator- the undead remnant of a completely dried up water elemental- basically a dried up husk body made of salt with an embittered memory of its watery form from before and an inescapable craving for moisture from living creatures. So the "oasis" would probably be more salt than water, as people are ingesting the salt and losing the water in their bodies. The oasis is able to disguise itself as refreshing freshwater instead of a mostly salt-water oasis. However, the oasis is cursed to lose a good portion of the moisture it drains into the soil around it- making the surrounding lands unusually green and full of life and a suitable lure to bring in more victims.

If you wanted to adopt some mechanics kinda directly out of the box, you could go with this living mirage from pathfinder, which has illusion powers and a desiccation ability: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... ng-mirage/

If you wanted to use that as your chassis, you could just change it to an elemental (instead of an ooze) or throw in a template to make it seem more watery- like the following:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... -creature/

So if you wanted to combine a little bit from each of my ideas above, you could have a necromental, water-infused living mirage with the flavor of the dessicator and possibly some additional added on powers to simulate your curse. If you include the necromental template, I would recommend against reducing the Charisma, as that will effect a lot of potential spell-like/supernatural abilities that are Charisma based.

Thanks for the advice. I'll go with the deaths that made it turned it into a sort of necroelemental. Rather than monolith, I'll go with large/elder for the thing (its not a huge oasis, but a sizable one). It will look normal, but one will notice it is surrounded by a strange ring of salt, a sign of the desicators around it. Basically the water tastes like it normal, but it really dehyrates you the more you drink it. So symptoms are seemingly alleviated when you drink it, but that just makes you dry out faster. Eventually people run back to the oasis, drinking from it only for the oasis to drain them dry, with the dry remains becoming a desciated undead.

Another idea i have is that the osasis is normal, with the desicator lying at the bottom of it in the muddy sand. It cannot drink the water though, and can only survive of bodyily fluids of the living. Its presence is cursing the water, and feeding its eternal thirst. So the oasis is a lure for the real desicator
---
Also got an idea for the Garbage Elemental. While I could put it in Noso, its origin according to the Books of S, I prefer putting it around Richemulot being born from a garbage barge that was sent down river to be buried in some town away from the city. The town is now swamped with city garbage, and this has given birth to the garbage elemental, which only makes the problem worse. I based the idea off of that news story about the New York garbage barge that no body wanted so just waited in water for nearly 3 years.
---
Also also, got my final two ideas: A trickster magmin summonded by a pyromaniac in Paridon. If it isn't stopped it could burn down the half the city! And finally, the only one that has no adventure: The Source of Corruption, a powerful Taint Elemental from Heroes of Horror. It is believed to be an embodiment of the cruel, corruptive nature of the mists, while others say that it was born the day Strahd commited his grave sin of fratricide. More of a dm resource/plot device, it should be found around any burgeoning darklords, guiding them into sin.

Ideas are done, now the hard part: Actually writing all this. Thank you all for the help! Especially you Lesser Evil.

[KingCorn]

So, got some things settled and have added some more details to my ideas, so here's what I have:

• Bitter Dross A garbage elemental formed over many years in a small village alone the Musarde. This village is called Le Reseau, or The Net, because the current along the river shifts near their such that all of the garbage of the cities which floats in the Musarde deposits itself here. The town over time became a giant trash heap, with the people living amoungst the garbage and trying to make what living they could. Calls for help with their problem were always ignored, and in time the people of Reseau grew bitter and resentful of the rest of Richleumont, who they felt content to let the town wallow in the growing trash heap despite years calling for help with clean up. Their impotent anger has over the years given life to the trash around them, the heap of angry garbage that is Bitter Dross. Growing fat off the continuing inflow of garbage, its influence has only made the village worse and the people more miserable, leaving the place a polluted hovel.
  -Adventure: Brown Water: An engineer has decided to take it upon himself to help the little burg by building a dame which should divert the flow of garbage and filth. The people of the village, now corrupted by Dross, can barely muster themselves to help with the project, and accidents have begun. Bitter Dross sends a swarm of rats to harass the engineer, eventually leading him to dry to burn the garbage to bring the peoples spirits up. This leads to the confrontation with Dross
• Unliving Lightning: A key to making a flesh-golem is lightning, always. Perhaps it is in this force that one finds the spark of life. It only makes sense then that such a perverse act of corrupting life such as making a golem might corrupt this pure force of nature. Born from the mad curiosity of Paul Rooder, the son of a grave digger. Trying to give birth to a dread golem, his "failure" gave birth to something far more perverse. The power flowed through his sewn up experiment, but rather than giving it life, the power instead continued to flow, twisted by the dread powers. Leaping out of the steeple of the church, half melting it, was an acid green flash of Unliving Lightning. Driven by a perverse desire to spread "life", it has cast the town in a perpetual stormy haze as strikes grave after grave, creating zombies.
  -Adventure: Storm of Death: Taking place in any town advanced enough to have wires/electricity, it is best placed in the western core in Lamordia. Being asked to investigate the disturbed graves, the party will be attacked by zombies. Many of the dead show signs of wear, tear, and sewing marks. A bolt of green lightning will strike the chruch, setting it alight. Going to investigate, they will find green lightning arking between bodies, each an attempt by Paul to make a golem.
• (Still working on a name): Before being conquered by the Mulan, the Rashemani of Hazlan were hardy shamans, living in balance with the spirits of nature, and legends of the Mulan conquest often tell of the these spirits fighting alongside them. Though the Mulan have tried though whip and fire to beat these legends out of the Mulan, some still remember the old stories, the old spirits. One group of Rashemani, driven to mad hate from a particularly abusive Mulan lord, turned to the old legends, chief among them the Orglash: The spirit of hateful cold, which even the greatest Mulan wizards feared. Worshiping it as their tool of vengeance, they managed to enact a ritual to summon one from prime material plane of Toril. Using it to kill their master, they wage a war on the Mulan, all the while losing control of their chief weapon as it spreads cold and death indiscriminately.
  -Adventure: Best Served Cold: Beginning in midsummer in Hazlan, the weather has been particularly cold as of late, with crops withering and dying on the vine. Walking through the city, a Rashemani shaman will appear in a fierce wind, blasting icy death at random passerby, shouting at any Rashemani to join him and break their chains. After a time and more incidents, one of the shamans will be captured alive and the party will be called upon to help interrogate them. Interrogation will reveal much about the Orglash, the loss of control of the beast, as well as a planned raid on the city lord's manor. The party will arive to stop it, though the leader of the rebels will not be at the raid, instead being part of the recurance

[The Lesser Evil]

I could see the Unliving Lightning having some interesting interactions with the Monastery of the Quivering Thunderbolt golems as a matter of Recurrence.

[KingCorn]

Also got another thing to add to this, inspired by the Princes of the Apocalypse, I had the idea of the Dread Archomentals. Powerful beings, their origins and goals are shrouded in mystery. Some believe that they are simply unusually powerful and arrogant elementals that were corrupted upon their summoning into the Land of Mists. Others believe they might be a product of the Mists themselves, out of some perverse desire to mock the elemental lords. One theory of note is among the Knights of the Shadows, who believe that the Dread Elemental lords are creations of Ebonbane, attempting to destroy the elemental keys which seal him.

Sange: Lord of Blood. The most active of the Dread Archomentals, he favors a humanoid form over a purely elemental one. Appearing as a towering man with flushed skin and bloodshot eyes when walking among mortals, he will when required show his "true form" as a geyser of blood, puslating as if pumped from some great invisible heart. Commanding many blood elementals, he will gift them to groups of vampires in exchange for service and worship. He holds so much sway as to approach Strahd von Zarovitch as somewhat of an equal, though even he is not so foolish as to demand the Count's worship.

Khalak: Lord of Pyre. Appearing as a giant column of blue fire erupting from a pile of chared bones, very little is known of this lord. Appearing only when summoned, they have little patience and will offer only death, to add more bones to its growing pile. What is known is that he once resided in the Burning Peaks, playing both sides in the war between Kas and Vecna. Whether he resides their still, none can say.

Brum: Lord of Mist. Appearing as a great wall of Mists, its actions are often indistinguishable from those of the the True Mists. Favoring the anonymity this grants him, he acts unseen though out the domains, weaving great plots of corruption. Brum has a great hatred for the Vistani, and takes in great pleasure in urging darklings to take revenge upon their tasque, loving the irony in such weapons.

Golgotha: Lord of Graves. Described as a great yawning maw in the earth, with bones and tombstones forming great, jagged teeth. Golgotha can best be described as a lazy nihilist, believing that all things end in death, and thus the world is her's already. Settling down into the earth and releasing an air of sheer despair as to inspire beings to willingly through themselves into her, she is content to let time do her work for her.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Great ideas!
...but I have a question... why three mist elementals?

The Gift of Belenus is a better name because this is ho the Tepestani would call it.

The Mound could work really well with Lomar Gojanovic from Chilling Tales featuring also a Jeshka, a Vistani magical item, made from the heart of a murderer, pierced by thorns and can be used to summon a grave elemental.

Smoke elementals (first appeared in the Awakening adventure), magically forged through the fusion of bits of material from the Elemental Planes of Fire and Earth. A smoke elemental is unique in that it can split into smaller versions of itself, each one acting independently.

[KingCorn]

Great ideas!

Thanks!

...but I have a question... why three mist elementals?

I just kinda liked the image of a trio of beings, like evil three stooges. Individually weak but as a group a problem

The Mound could work really well with Lomar Gojanovic from Chilling Tales featuring also a Jeshka, a Vistani magical item, made from the heart of a murderer, pierced by thorns and can be used to summon a grave elemental.

That's a pretty good idea.
Honestly the ideas I'm most proud of is the Unliving Lightning and The Mound.

[Mistmaster]

Nice idea.

[Speedwagon]

Dunno if I’ve had the chance to say this yet I’d not in my own CotN thread, but great ideas! The contextualization of each elemental within Ravenloft really helps make them stand out and the suggested adventures all play to their strengths. I like the Archomental idea (having used the ones in 5e’s Princes of the Apocalypse) and I actually thought of using the elementals in the aforementioned 5e module as stand-ins for the elemental keys that seal Ebonbane (it was part of an old thread on the Phantasmal Forest that I need to revive). So the Knights in the Shadows theory is my favorite explanation! The links to the Burning Peaks and the Vistani are also really cool. I’d caution against putting them in play too often, as while the Demiplane has many secret societies, it gets to the point that they kinda cancel each other out like how in comic books you have multiple secret organizations with big conspiracies one after another and yet the world still looks mostly the same. So maybe unleash these Dread Archomentals as the climax or result of a previous adventure involving Ebonbane? That can also save the confrontation with said beings at higher levels.

Additionally, it might be good to adapt other types of elementals to Ravenloft, no? Gargoyles and Invisible Stalkers are already easy to slot in, but what of Water Weirds, Magmins, Mephits of Dust/Ash/Smoke (Mephisto talked about that a bit)/Ice, Azers, Xorns, Flail Snails, Frost Salamanders, Galeb Duhrs, Myrmidon versions of the basic elementals, Khargas, Chwingas, even Elder Elementals that can be the focus of an adventure by stopping their summoning (Leviathans, Zaratans, Elder Tempests, Phoenixes)?